Flat Item Depositing and Outputting Apparatus

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a flat item depositing and outputting apparatus. The apparatus comprises a cabinet body. A depositing shelf and an item transferring mechanism for outputting the flat item are disposed within the cabinet body. An item outputting port is disposed on the cabinet body. The depositing shelf comprises vertical posts ( 2 ) and baffle plates ( 1 ) disposed on the vertical posts ( 2 ). Baffle plate layers are formed between baffle plates ( 1 ). The item transferring mechanism comprises a pushing rod ( 6 ) that can pass through the baffle plate layers and a movement element for driving the pushing rod ( 6 ) to move. The shape of the flat item does not limit the apparatus when the apparatus transfers the item. The apparatus does not damage the item when transferring the item.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a flat item depositing and outputtingapparatus, and particularly to an apparatus for depositing andoutputting flat items, such as periodicals, newspapers, magazines andbooks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As a sale mode convenient for shopping, an automatic vender has beenaccepted by more and more people. At present, the common automaticvenders include a cold drink vender, a nosh vender, a condom vender, apaper towel vender, a smallware vender, a OTC drugs vender, a newspapervender, an automatic hot drink vender and the like. However, withrespect to items like journals and books, due to outline and side,thickness, weight, material of cover and package thereof are differentfrom each other and they are not fully rigid, a depositing andoutputting mechanism of the common automatic vender is hard to beapplied in such items. Therefore, up to now, an automatic vender forselling books, journals and the like remains rare.

Presently, there are mainly two kinds of automatic newspaper vendersavailable in market: a vender which employs a three-dimensionalmechanical arm as an automatic item outputting mechanism and a venderwhich uses a longitudinal screw propulsion type item outputtingmechanism.

The automatic newspaper vender which employs the three-dimensionalmechanical arm arranges newspapers and magazines of the same kind in thedepth direction and arranges newspapers and magazines of the differentkind in an up-down-left-right plane side by side in line-row manner. Theautomatic newspaper vender performs positioning by the three-dimensionalmechanical arm of rectangular coordinates and attracts target objects bya vacuum suction disk. Due to the fact that flat items the material andquality of surface, packaging form, degree of roughness and weight ofjournals and books are different from each other, it can not be ensuredthat attraction of various items by use of the suction disk succeedseach time. Meanwhile, the number of kinds of newspapers or periodicalsplaced on shelves of the automatic vender is fixed and can not be largerthan a set value of the vender. For example, if the set value is nine,the number of kinds of items placed thereon can not be larger than nine.Furthermore, the manners of using three-dimensional mechanical arm andthe vacuum suction disk cause increase manufacturing and maintenancecosts.

The longitudinal screw propulsion item outputting type newspaper venderemploys the structure of the existing automatic smallware vender toarrange newspapers and magazines of the same kind vertically in thelongitudinal direction and arrange newspapers and magazines of thedifferent kind in an up-down-left-right plane side by side in line-rowmanner. Newspapers and magazines of each kind are pushed out graduallyby a screw propeller and drop to an item output port. Due to an unstabletrack of the magazine's falling in this manner, a jam often occurs in anitem transferring passage. Furthermore, such a manner of dropping andoutputting items causes books and magazines to be easily damaged andmakes it inconvenient to put items on the shelves.

It is known from the above that the existing automatic vender is notsuitable for selling flat items such as periodicals, newspapers,magazines and books, mainly because the depositing and outputtingapparatus of the automatic vender can not meet the requirement of theparticular performance of such items.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The problem to be solved in the present invention is to provide a flatitem depositing and outputting apparatus, which transfers items withoutbeing limited by the shapes of flat items such as newspapers andmagazines, accurately outputs the items, enables the items convenient tobe deposited and outputted and capable of being positioned and selectedto be outputted according to a command, and will not damage the itemsduring the transferring thereof, with respect to the deficienciesexisting in the prior art.

The technical solution adopted in the present invention for solving itstechnical problem resides in a flat item depositing and outputtingapparatus comprising: a cabinet body, in which a depositing shelf and anitem transferring mechanism for outputting flat items are provided andon which an item outputting port is provided, wherein the depositingshelf includes posts and baffle plates which are provided on the posts,baffle plate layers are formed between the baffle plates, and the itemtransferring mechanism includes a pushing rod which can pass through thebaffle plate layers and a movement element for driving the pushing rodto move.

The movement element may include a first linear driver, the body ofwhich is substantially provided parallel to the posts, a second lineardriver, the body of which is substantially provided parallel to thedirection of placing the baffle plates as well as drive units for thefirst and second linear drivers, a first slide block capable of movingalong the body of the first linear driver is provided on the body of thefirst linear driver and the body of the second linear driver, on which asecond slide block capable of moving along the body of the second lineardriver is provided, is fixed to the first slide block, and the pushingrod is fixed to the second slide block.

The baffle plate layers may be formed of a plurality of baffle plateswhich are arranged in the extending direction of the posts.

Preferably, the flat item depositing and outputting apparatus mayfurther comprise an item receiving mechanism which is provided betweenthe depositing shelf and the item outputting port. The item receivingmechanism may employ a variety of forms of automatically outputtingitems and the preferred two of the forms are described as follows.

One form is that the item receiving mechanism may comprise a receiverbin, one side edge of which is fixed to the first slide block and whichis opposite to the baffle plate layers, and the first linear driver isprovided in the vicinity of the item output port.

In order to prevent the receiver bin from being crushed due to excessiveweight of the items and make the procedure of transferring the itemsmore smooth, the preferred item receiving mechanism may further comprisea linear guide rail, which is provided in the vicinity of the itemoutputting port in such a manner to parallel to the first linear driverand on which a slide block capable of sliding up and down along the bodyof the linear guide rail is provided, and the other side edge of thereceiver bin is fixed to the slide block.

The receiver bin reaches the selected baffle plate layer before thepushing rod moves to a position where it is required to take items out,therefore, the item receiving mechanism is an ideal mechanism forperforming the take-out procedure quickly and being compact.

The other form is that the item receiving mechanism may comprise areceiver bin and a third linear driver which is provided between thedepositing shelf and the item outputting port, the body of the thirdlinear driver, on which a third slide block is provided, issubstantially provided parallel to the posts, and one side edge of thereceiver bin is fixed to the third slide block.

The preferred item receiving mechanism may further comprise a secondlinear guide rail, which is provided in the vicinity of the itemoutputting port in such a manner to parallel to the third linear driverand on which a forth slide block capable of sliding up and down alongthe body of the linear guide rail is provided, and the other side edgeof the receiver bin is fixed to the forth slide block.

According to different situations, the drive units may be electricmotors, linear motors, hydraulic or pneumatic mechanisms.

The drive mechanism for each of the linear drivers may include a screwrod drive mechanism, a toothed belt drive mechanism, and a linear motoror a pneumatic drive mechanism.

The depositing and output apparatus of the present invention uses adepositing shelf with a plurality of baffle plates to put items, whichhelps to deposit items such as journals and books, which have differentvolumes, shapes and packages. The interval between two adjacent baffleplates can be regulated, as required, so as to be adapted to thedepositing of items with different specifications, sides andthicknesses.

By using of such depositing shelf, the kind of books deposited can becombined or changed. For example, within a maximum depositing number,books or journals of a certain kind can be distributed so that threebooks are put in order as one kind and five books are put in order asanother kind, etc. The distribution manner is flexible. When depositingitems, the items are generally put from the front of the depositingshelf on the baffle plates in a manual manner or in other manner.

The depositing and outputting apparatus of the present invention mayselect the number of the depositing shelves according to the numberand/or the kind of the flat items. When the number and/or the kind ofthe flat items to be deposited is large, a plurality of depositingshelves can be employed, and a plurality of item receiving mechanismscan be provided correspondingly to the plurality of depositing shelves,or only one item receiving mechanism capable of moving in a plurality ofdirections can also be employed.

In the depositing and output apparatus of the present invention, duringthe item outputting procedure, the falling procedure of the flat itemsdeposited, such as journals, books and the like, is stable, thereforethe items are not damaged. Furthermore, it is not needed to consider thedifference of surface material of the items and the items to bedeposited on the shelves can be flexible items.

The item transferring mechanism in the present invention can positionand output items only by use of two-dimensional movement of the vertical(Z) direction and the depth (Y) direction. The maintenance procedure ofthe item transferring mechanism is simpler and more convenient than thecase of employing the manner of a three-dimensional system and a suctiondisk, and the manufacturing and maintenance costs are reduced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic front perspective view of a flat item depositingand outputting apparatus according to the embodiment 1 of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic rear perspective view of the flat item depositingand outputting apparatus according to the embodiment 1 of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic front perspective view of the flat item depositingand outputting apparatus according to the embodiment 2 of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic rear perspective view of the flat item depositingand outputting apparatus according to the embodiment 2 of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic front perspective view of the flat item depositingand outputting apparatus according to the embodiment 3 of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic rear perspective view of the flat item depositingand outputting apparatus according to the embodiment 3 of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic front perspective view of the flat item depositingand outputting apparatus according to the embodiment 4 of the presentinvention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic rear perspective view of the flat item depositingand outputting apparatus according to the embodiment 4 of the presentinvention.

wherein: 1—baffle plates 2—posts 3—second linear driver 4—Y-directiondrive motor 5—second slide block 6—pushing rod 7—first linear driver8—Z-direction drive motor 9—first slide block 10—linear guide rail11—slide block 12—receiver bin 13—base 14—framework 15—third lineardriver 16—third slide block 17—second linear guide rail 18—forth slideblock 19—Z-direction drive motor

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will be described in detail in connection withembodiments and drawings.

The embodiments below are non-restrictive embodiments of the presentinvention.

Embodiment 1

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a flat item depositing and outputtingapparatus of the invention includes a cabinet body which comprises abase 13 and a framework 14 on the base 13, in front of which an itemoutputting port (not shown in the figures) is provided, and in which adepositing shelf and an item transferring mechanism are provided.

In the present embodiment, the depositing shelf includes verticallyprovided posts 2 and baffle plates 1 which are provided on the posts 2,a plurality of baffle plates 1 arranged in vertical direction formbaffle plate layers and various flat items, such as journals, may beplaced on the baffle plates 1. Two or more posts 2 can be employed, andthe baffle plates 1 may exhibit a variety of shapes convenient to layitems. In the present embodiment, the baffle plates 1 have aquadrilateral structure and three posts 2 are employed. The first threecorners of the baffle plates 1 are fixed to the three posts 2respectively and the forth corner of the baffle plates 1 is suspended tofacilitate movement of a pushing rod 6 in an item transferring mechanismdescribed below.

The item transferring mechanism includes a first linear driver 7, asecond linear driver 3 and drive mechanisms for the linear drivers.

The body of the first linear driver 7 is provided parallel to the posts2 in the Z-direction. A first slide block 9 capable of moving in theZ-direction is embedded on the body of the first linear driver 7 and thebody of the second linear driver 3, which is substantially perpendicularto the body of the first linear driver 7 and on which a second slideblock 5 capable of horizontally moving in the Y-direction is embedded,is fixed to the first slide block 9, and the pushing rod 6 is fixed tothe second slide block 5 which can drive the pushing rod 6 to passthrough the baffle plate layers.

Drive units in the present embodiment employ electric motors in whichthe first linear driver 7 and the second linear driver 3 are driven by aZ-direction drive motor 8 and a Y-direction drive motor 4 respectively.

A linear driver is a product of interchangeable parts applied indisplacement and positioning in a rectangular coordinate system.Currently, there are products manufactured by factories such as FestoGermany and Parker U.S.A and by factories from Japan, Korea, and Taiwanof China and the mainland of China, as main products of the lineardriver. The drive mechanism mainly includes a screw rod drive mechanism,a toothed belt drive mechanism, a linear motor and a pneumatic drivemechanism. The linear driver used in the present embodiment is a lineardriver of DGE-SP type or DGE-ER type manufactured by Festo Germany.

The flat item depositing and outputting apparatus of the presentinvention will become an automatic vender for depositing and outputtingflat items when assembled with an automatic control system and acorresponding housing. By operating with respect to a human-computerinteraction panel, the automatic vending procedure can be completed.

The flat item depositing and outputting apparatus of the presentembodiment operates in accordance with the following process:

When a flat item depositing and outputting apparatus of the presentinvention receives from an automatic control system a command forinstructing to output items (for example books and periodicals)deposited in a certain baffle plate layer of the depositing shelf of thecabinet body, the apparatus starts the item transferring mechanismaccording to the command.

First, the first linear driver 7 is operated to be actuated and thesecond linear driver 3 is driven to move in the Z-direction and stopswhen it moves to a target baffle plate position of the baffle platelayers;

then, the second linear driver 3 is operated to be actuated and thepushing rod 6 is driven to move in the Y-direction toward the directionof the item outputting port and the pushing rod 6 pushes the items onthe baffle plate 1 and makes them drop to the location of the itemoutput port;

finally, the second linear driver 3 drives the pushing rod 6 to movereversely and the pushing rod stops after it returns to the startingpoint; and

an item takeout process as a time is terminated.

Embodiment 2

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, this embodiment differs from the embodiment 1in that the body of the first linear driver 7 is provided in thevicinity of the forth corner suspended of the baffle plate layers. Thebody of the first linear driver 7 may also be provided at otherpositions within the cabinet body, as required.

Other structures and functions of the present embodiment are the same asthose of the embodiment 1.

Embodiment 3

This embodiment differs from the embodiment 1 in that the flat itemdepositing and outputting apparatus further includes an item receivingmechanism. The item receiving mechanism is a receiver bin 12, one sideedge of which is fixed to the first slide block 9 and which is providedbetween the baffle plate layers and the item outputting port and isopposite to the baffle plate layers.

Other structures of the present embodiment are the same as that of theembodiment 1.

The flat item depositing and outputting apparatus of the presentembodiment operates in accordance with the following process:

When a flat item depositing and automatic outputting apparatus of thepresent invention accepts from an automatic control system a command forinstructing to output items (e.g., books and periodicals) deposited in acertain baffle plate layer of the depositing shelf of the cabinet body,the apparatus operates the item transferring mechanism according to thecommand.

First, the first linear driver 7 is operated to be actuated and thesecond linear driver 3 is driven to move in the Z-direction and stoppedwhen it moves to a target baffle plate position of the baffle platelayers, and the receiver bin 12 synchronously slides in the Z-directionto the front of the target baffle plate position along with the secondlinear driver 3;

then, the second linear driver 3 is operated to be actuated and thepushing rod 6 is driven to move in the Y-direction toward the directionof the receiver bin 12 and the pushing rod 6 pushes the items on thebaffle plate 1 and makes them drop into the receiver bin 12;

next, the second linear driver 3 drives the pushing rod 6 to movereversely and the pushing rod stops after it returns to the startingpoint;

finally, driven by the first linear driver 7, the receiver bin 12 islowered to the location of the item outputting port; and

an item takeout process as a time is terminated.

Embodiment 4

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, this embodiment differs from the embodiment 3in that the flat item depositing and outputting apparatus furtherincludes a linear guide rail 10, the body of which is provided betweenthe item outputting port and the depositing shelf in such a manner toparallel to the body of the first linear driver 7 and on which a slideblock 11 is provided. The other side edge of the receiver bin 12 isfixed to the slide block 11. Due to the fact that the two side edges ofthe receiver bin 12 are respectively fixed to the first slide block 9 ofthe first linear driver 7 and the slide block 11 of the linear guiderail 10, thus, the receiver bin 12 may move in the Z-direction. When thefirst slide block 9 drives the receiver bin 12 to move up and down incase of being driven by the Z-direction drive motor 8, the slide block11 correspondingly moves up and down within the linear guide rail 10 aswell. Thus, the receiver bin 12 is superior in its reliability, capableof transferring items smoothly and carrying higher load capacity.

Other structures of the present embodiment are the same as that of theembodiment 3.

The flat item depositing and outputting apparatus of the embodimentoperates in accordance with the following process:

When a flat item depositing and outputting apparatus of the presentinvention receives from an automatic control system a command forinstructing to output items (e.g., books and periodicals) deposited in acertain baffle plate layer of the depositing shelf of the cabinet body,the apparatus operates the item transferring mechanism according to thecommand.

First, the first linear driver 7 is operated to be actuated and thesecond linear driver 3 is driven to move in the Z-direction and stopswhen it moves to a target baffle plate position of the baffle platelayers, and the receiver bin 12 synchronously slides in the Z-directionto the front of the target baffle plate position along with the secondlinear driver 3;

then, the second linear driver 3 is operated to be actuated and thepushing rod 6 is driven to move in the Y-direction toward the directionof the receiver bin 12 and the pushing rod 6 pushes the items on thebaffle plate 1 and makes them drop into the receiver bin 12;

next, the second linear driver 3 drives the pushing rod 6 to movereversely and the pushing rod stops after it returns to the startingpoint;

finally, driven by the first linear driver 7, the receiver bin 12 islowered to the location of the item outputting port; and

an item takeout process as a time is terminated.

Embodiment 5

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, this embodiment differs from the embodiment 2in that an item receiving mechanism is provided between the item outputport (not shown in the figures) and the posts 2.

The item receiving mechanism includes a receiver bin 12 which isopposite to the baffle plate layers, a Z-direction drive motor 19, and athird linear driver 15 and a second linear guide rail 17 which areparallel to the posts 2. A third slide block 16 is embedded on the bodyof the third linear driver 15 and a forth slide block 18 is embedded onthe second linear guide rail 17. One side edge of the receiver bin 12 isfixed to the third slide block 16 and the other side edge thereof isfixed to the forth slide block 18. A Z-direction drive motor 19 maydrive the third slide block 16 on the third linear driver 15 to move inZ-direction along the body of the third linear driver 15 and thereceiver bin 12 moves in Z-direction along with the third slide block 16and the forth slide block 18 slides on the body of the second linearguide rail 17 along with the receiver bin 12.

The flat item depositing and outputting apparatus of the embodimentoperates in accordance with the following process:

When a flat item depositing and outputting apparatus of the presentinvention receives from an automatic control system a command forinstructing to output items (e.g., books and periodicals) deposited in acertain baffle plate layer of the depositing shelf of the cabinet body,the apparatus operates the item transferring mechanism according to thecommand.

First, the first linear driver 7 is operated to be actuated and thesecond linear driver 3 is driven to move in the Z-direction and stopswhen it moves to a target baffle plate position of the baffle platelayers, and at the same time, the third linear driver 15 is operated todrive the receiver bin 12 synchronously slide in the Z-direction to thefront of the target baffle plate position;

then, the second linear driver 3 is operated to be actuated and thepushing rod 6 is driven to move in the Y-direction toward the directionof the receiver bin 12 and the pushing rod 6 pushes the items on thebaffle plate 1 and makes them drop into the receiver bin 12;

finally, the second linear driver 3 drives the pushing rod 6 to movereversely and the pushing rod stops after it returns to the startingpoint, and at the same time, driven by the third linear driver 15, thereceiver bin 12 is lowered to the location of the item output port; and

an item takeout process as a time is terminated.

1. A flat item depositing and outputting apparatus, comprising: acabinet body, in which a depositing shelf and an item transferringmechanism for outputting flat items are provided and on which an itemoutput port is provided, characterized in that the depositing shelfincludes posts (2) and baffle plates (1) which are provided on the posts(2), the baffle plates form baffle plate layers therebetween, and theitem transferring mechanism includes a pushing rod (6) which can passthrough the baffle plate layers and a movement element for driving thepushing rod (6) to move.
 2. The flat item depositing and outputtingapparatus according to the claim 1, characterized in that the movementelement includes a first linear driver (7), the body of which issubstantially provided parallel to the posts (2), a second linear driver(3), the body of which is substantially provided parallel to thedirection of placing the baffle plates (1), and drive units for thefirst and second linear drivers, a first slide block (9) capable ofmoving along the body of the first linear driver (7) is provided on thebody of the first linear driver (7) and the body of the second lineardriver (3), on which a second slide block (5) capable of moving alongthe body of the second linear driver (3) is provided, is fixed to thefirst slide block (9), and the pushing rod (6) is fixed to the secondslide block (5).
 3. The flat item depositing and outputting apparatusaccording to claim 2, characterized in that the flat item depositing andoutputting apparatus further comprises an item receiving mechanism whichis provided between the depositing shelf and the item output port. 4.The flat item depositing and outputting apparatus according to the claim3, characterized in that the item receiving mechanism comprises areceiver bin (12), one side edge of which is fixed to the first slideblock (9) and which is opposite to the baffle plate layers and the firstlinear driver (7) is provided in the vicinity of the item output port.5. The flat item depositing and outputting apparatus according to theclaim 4, characterized in that the item receiving mechanism furthercomprises a linear guide rail (10), which is provided in the vicinity ofthe item output port in such a manner to parallel to the first lineardriver (7) and on which a slide block (11) capable of sliding up anddown along the body of the linear guide rail (10) is provided, and theother side edge of the receiver bin (12) is fixed to the slide block(11).
 6. The flat item depositing and outputting apparatus according tothe claim 3, characterized in that the item receiving mechanismcomprises a receiver bin (12) and a third linear driver (15) which isprovided between the depositing shelf and the item output port, the bodyof third linear driver (15), on which a third slide block (16) isprovided, is substantially provided parallel to posts (2), and one sideedge of the receiver bin (12) is fixed to the third slide block (16). 7.The flat item depositing and outputting apparatus according to the claim6, characterized in that the item receiving mechanism further comprisesa second linear guide rail (17), which is provided in the vicinity ofthe item output port in such a manner to parallel to the third lineardriver (15) and on which a forth slide block (18) capable of sliding upand down along the body of the linear guide rail (10) is provided, andthe other side edge of the receiver bin (12) is fixed to the forth slideblock (18).
 8. The flat item depositing and outputting apparatusaccording to claim 4, characterized in that the drive units are electricmotors, linear motors, hydraulic or pneumatic mechanisms.
 9. The flatitem depositing and outputting apparatus according to claim 4,characterized in that a drive mechanism for each of the linear driversincludes a screw rod drive mechanism, a toothed belt drive mechanism, alinear motor or a pneumatic drive mechanism.
 10. The flat itemdepositing and outputting apparatus according to any one of the claims 4to 7, characterized in that the baffle plate layers are formed of aplurality of the baffle plates (1) which are arranged in the extendingdirection of the posts.